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Samuel Fletcher Drury. 



A MEMORIAL 



OF THE LIFE OF 



Samuel Fletcher Drury. 



1/ 

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" Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and 

whosoever will be chief among you, let him be 

your servant?" 1 




J. X.4i.° ■■!■<?■ ' 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES OF DRURY 

COLLEGE. 



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NOTE. 

The Memorial Address on the opposite page, by Rev. N. J. 
Morrison, D.D., President of Drury College, was delivered on 
the evening of Monday, June n, 1883, in the Opera House, 
Springfield, Mo. 

The evening — a part of "Commencement Week" — was 
given up to this commemorative service ; Professor F. A. Hall, of 
the College, and George M. Jones, Esq., a prominent citizen of 
Springfield, also speaking in eulogy of the common benefactor of 
college and city. 

On pages subsequent to this address follow a sketch of the 
life of Mr. Drury, and tributes to his memory in connection with 
the funeral services in Olivet College, Feb. 16, 1883. 

Circumstances, not needful to mention here, have prevented 
the publication of this Memorial until this late day, February, 1885. 






HEN a man of distinguished achievements in 
war, or statecraft, or authorship, dies, his con- 
^^tc temporaries are wont to stop in their eager 
quest for gain or pleasure to contemplate the life which has 
just reached its period, to review the finished career, to 
count up the illustrious deeds of the dead, to measure his 
character, and weigh the loss of society. But lately all 
France, with bowed head, followed the bier of the Re- 
public's chiefest statesman up the acclivity of Pere La 
Chaise, and rostrum and public press, from Calais to Nice, 
resounded with ardent eulogium of the great dead. 

And this was honorable in the gallant nation. Gam- 
betta's great services to his people in the extremity of their 
national humiliation, and all along the hard road of national 
recovery, deserved this grateful recognition and lofty pane- 
gyric, albeit in private morals the Gallic statesman may 
offer us too little to admire. A year ago, we Americans put 
on sackcloth when the telegraph told us that our national 
poet had sung his last song, and gone to his rest in our 
Westminster Abbey. The very school-children of the 
Republic laid aside their books and games and gave a day 
to the memory of Longfellow. 

This public eulogy of greatness in death, this human 
habit of applying the Latin maxim, Nil nisi bonum de mor- 
tuis, of even exaggerating elements of greatness in the 



4 

careers of men lately deceased, is noble and praiseworthy. 
By this public eulogy we help to idealize in the sentiments 
of the people, especially of the young, the shining qualities 
of the illustrious dead. An ideal standard of noble living, 
impersonated by the hero of the hour, is thus held up for 
popular admiration — a most powerful means of educating 
men in the direction of unselfish and noble living. Hold 
up the mirror of great deeds before the gaze of admiring 
youth, and you may change them — some of them — "into 
the same image from glory to glory." 

We are convened to-night to do honor to the memory 
of a man whom no one would class with the world's great 
heroes ; who could lay no claim to honor for achievements 
in arms, or literature, or to any other form of greatness 
which challenges wide and popular acclaim. Our friend 
was lately among us as one of us ; in genius and intellect- 
ual attainment not greatly superior to the average of his 
associates ; in what the world dignifies as success in life, 
falling far behind many ; living among us a modest, though 
earnest and aggressive, Christian life, without attracting 
particular notice. And because he was thus, in natural 
advantages and material success, a man of no great dis- 
tinction, does his greatly useful life all the more deserve 
from us words of warm and grateful eulogy ; for when 
you praise the illustrious career of Washington or Web- 
ster, you indeed challenge my admiration, perhaps arouse 
my ambition, but you scarcely kindle my hope. The very 
grandeur of such Alpine heights of greatness discourages, 
while it awes me. Such climbing in lofty deeds is too high 
for me ; I cannot attain unto it. But when you portray 
for me the character of William E. Dodge, or of Peter 



Cooper, showing what sturdy work, economy, pluck, and 
spotless integrity can do for men of very ordinary genius, 
and how these heroes of philanthropy used their wealth 
solely to bless their fellow-men, you offer to me an ideal 
that I can follow as well as admire. 

It is the distinctive glory of our age that our heroes are 
not crowned tyrants and blood-stained warriors, who climb 
into undeserved prominence in the world's gaze by tramp- 
ling down their fellows, but such as have become great 
through the greatness of their services for humanity. This 
is the " age of the people ; " and he is surest of immortality 
among men, even in their songs and literature, whose 
heart-beats pulsate most in unison with the great heart of 
humanity. Herein do the words of the Master verify 
themselves more and more, as the world advances into the 
full sunlight of Christianity : " Whosoever will be great 
among you, let him be your minister ; and whosoever will 
be chief among you, let him be your servant." In this 
acceptation of true heroism, — greatness of self-sacrificing 
services for mankind, — Mr. Drury deserves no mean place 
among the Christian heroes of our time- 
So, then, the modest career and moderate worldly at- 
tainments of our friend are not only no bar to our public 
eulogy, but rather a strong incentive, since in the simple 
record of his noble life we shall note high achievements of 
which we ourselves are possibly capable. 

The story of his life is a brief one, already familiar to 
many of you. 

The son of poverty, though of honorable lineage in two 
States, he was born and bred in a country village in Central 
Massachusetts, the tall spire of whose white parish church 



on the hilltop is a striking feature in the landscape to the 
eye of the traveler who journeys westward from Worcester 
toward Albany. Had Mr. Drury lived until last Thurs- 
day, he would have been exactly sixty-seven years of age. 

On reaching the age of fourteen the lad Samuel left 
his home, henceforth to make his way in the world un- 
aided, first in a neighboring village, then in the growing 
city of Worcester, and by and by as clerk in a store in 
Boston. While in Worcester he first publicly consecrated 
himself to Christ, uniting with the Baptist Church of that 
city. 

Later, but still a young man little beyond his majority, 
he removed to the West, a pioneer of civilization and the 
Christian religion near the western border of Michigan. 
It was prophetic of Mr. Drury's whole subsequent life to 
give a part of the first day he spent in this new settlement 
to an eager search for kindred through the blood of 
Christ. He was able to find in the pioneer village but a 
single believer ; and they two on the next day, which was 
Sunday, held the first religious services and organized the 
first Sunday-school of the place, and, I think, of the coun- 
ty. Thus at the outset did this young man put in prac- 
tice, as the rule of his life, the Saviour's injunction to the 
twelve, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness." At this place he soon engaged in merchandis- 
ing, and prospered. Here he first met, and afterward 
married, the noble woman thenceforward to be his wise 
counsellor and strong helpmeet in all humane and Chris- 
tian work throughout his subsequent career, — a union in 
wedlock as nearly ideal in its beautiful completeness as is 
often met with in human experience. Twelve years later, 



7 

by great industry and economy, having accumulated a 
modest competence, he removed to Olivet, in the same 
State, to become a chief burden-bearer and worker in the 
arduous enterprise of establishing Olivet College. 

This school, though founded six years before, was at 
that time (1850) in straitened and most precarious circum- 
stances. Its devoted founder had been stricken with sud- 
den death almost at the hour of the school's birth. Its 
friends were few and feeble in resources, though strong in 
faith. Visiting the school at this time, and coming into 
quick sympathy with the heroic Spirit of its friends, the 
very pathos of its need, and the precariousness of its life, 
won Mr. Drury's adherence and help. Soon after he re- 
moved to Olivet, and thenceforward identified himself 
with the school and the people of the place in a loyalty 
and devotion that never faltered in all the subsequent 
years of his toilsome life. Here, henceforth, he diligently 
plied one hand to the business of the village store to earn 
his daily bread, while with the other he ministered to the 
support of the child College, from time to time breaking 
away for a season from merchandising in order to labor for 
souls in revival-work in the villages of Michigan, or speed- 
ing his way to the distant East to solicit, from door to door, 
the means of prolonging the doubtful life of the school ; 
early and late, on all occasions, and everywhere, urging the 
claims of that " School of the Prophets," as he called 
Olivet College, on the attention and sympathy of good 
people, until the very persistency of his appeals won re- 
luctant recognition from distinguished clergymen and lay- 
men in the churches of the State — from synods and as- 
sociations. 



8 

This struggle to secure for Olivet College recognition 
and support from the Congregational and Presbyterian 
churches of Michigan, occupied nearly twenty years. 
Many wise men in the churches doubted the need of a 
Christian college at Olivet, believing that the State Uni- 
versity would afford to the people of the State all require- 
ments for the higher education. Others were, for a time, 
suspicious of the orthodoxy of the young school, ground- 
ing their suspicion not on any discovered irregularity of 
teaching or tenet in the school itself, but rather on the 
supposed taint of heretical descent from its noted Ohio 
mother. Others yet were deterred from full committal to 
its fortunes by the small prospect of large success. As 
one distinguished minister said, " It was folly to attempt a 
college at Olivet without at least half a million of ready 
cash." But the steady growth of the school, its adoption 
by the College Society of New York, and the unwearied 
assiduity of its friends, finally triumphed, so that repre- 
sentatives of Olivet College came at length to be wel- 
comed to Association and Synod. 

In this protracted struggle for life and just recognition 
by the churches which the college served, no one bore a 
more prominent, or wiser, or more efficient part than Mr. 
Drury. Words fail me adequately to describe my sense of 
Mr. Drury's loyalty and devotion to Olivet throughout this 
protracted period of struggle. He gave more of time, 
more of watching, and labor to the interests of the school 
than to his own business, and always without pecuniary 
recompense — putting, in fact, the interests of the College 
foremost in all his plans, and toils, and thoughts. When 
money for the salaries of teachers failed he canvassed his 



friends for help, or got from the bank, on his own credit, the 
needed relief. When the outlook for the final success of the 
College was most doubtful, and the courage of trustees and 
teachers was almost gone, Mr. Drury's faith never faltered. 
More than any other man, Mr. Drury was the source and 
center of that rare Christian enthusiasm and devotion which 
bound the teachers together during this period, and held 
them to the College. His consecrated and hopeful spirit 
was our bond and our consecration. In sharp crises, Oli- 
vet has had other steadfast friends and open-handed help- 
ers, yet was Mr. Drury the one to whom all first looked 
for an inspiration of our flagging faith, for the clear-toned 
exhortation to " go forward." 

During this period of struggle for the College Mr. 
Drury suffered the great affliction of his life, in the death 
of an only son, who was also an only child. This son, 
Albert Fletcher, was a young man of singular purity, no- 
bility, and benevolence of character, seeming to combine 
in his own person the highest qualities of both parents. 
Mr. Drury had expected his son to be his successor in 
business, the heir to his property, and to take up his Chris- 
tian and philanthropic work after he himself should cease 
from his labors. When, therefore, this great hope of the 
father's heart had gone out in sorrow, the stricken father 
felt (as he subsequently said to me) : " Henceforth, I alone 
must do the work for Christ intended for both Albert and 
myself The little estate that would have been his, is now 
dedicated to his memory in wider service for my fellow- 
men. " Hence, when Mr. Drury decided to aid in estab- 
lishing a Christian school here in Missouri, his contribu- 
tion of means, labor, watching, and love were intended to 
be a memorial of his noble son rather than of himself. 



IO 

During this period, also, and near its close, Mr. Drury 
suffered the loss, by fire, of his place of business and all its 
contents. He did not rebuild the store, nor afterward 
enter on the prosecution of active business. 

In the year 1872 circumstances seemed to indicate to 
Mr. Drury that the period of his active personal service for 
Olivet College was drawing to a close. The school had suc- 
cessfully passed the period of obloquy, critical difficulty, and 
doubt. It had grown from the narrow conditions of a 
small village academy to the dimensions of a true college 
of the New England standard; had acquired high rank for 
solidity and excellence of scholarship — in these respects 
falling not one whit behind the famous University near by, 
the pride and glory of Michigan. Its resources had greatly 
augmented. Scores of influential friends now stood for the 
college where one advocate formerly could be found. He, 
perhaps, could henceforth be spared from the enterprise. 
Other and fresher hands might serve it better. He would 
look about for other and kindred work. So he reasoned 
with himself. 

At this time — the autumn of 1872 — the efforts of the 
Missionary Congregational Churches of Southwest Missouri 
to establish a Christian college, first attracted his notice, and 
led him the next year to use here, rather than in Colorado or 
Nebraska, as he had at different times contemplated, the 
pecuniary means which, probably, has rendered the exist- 
ence of this College possible. When, in December, 1873, 
" Springfield College " became ''Drury College," Mr. Drury 
transferred to the Board of Trustees the ownership of most 
of the property which he possessed, the value of which was 
estimated at twenty-five thousand dollars. 



1 1 

Compared with the gifts of Girard, Vanderbilt, and 
Hopkins to the schools which bear their respective names, 
or with the noble contributions lately made to us by Mrs. 
Valeria Stone, this gift by Mr. Drury to the institution 
which bears his name, may to some seem small and inad- 
equate. Yet the now honored name of Dartmouth de- 
scended to the infant school in the New Hampshire woods 
with a legacy of barely fifty pounds sterling. John Har- 
vard, with his name, gave to the future famous University 
but two hundred pounds ; Yale, to the University at New 
Haven, a smaller sum. 

But compared with the pecuniary ability of Mr. Drury, 
his offering on the altar of Christian education here was 
one, in noble generosity and self-sacrifice, rarely equaled 
in the annals of Christian beneficence. He gave, or con- 
tracted to give, substantially, his earthly all. 

In estimating the value of this benefaction, also, we 
are not to forget that Mr. Drury's gift was the necessary 
prerequisite and condition precedent to all subsequent gifts 
for the same purpose. His act was the hinge on which 
turned the question of a Christian college here. Citizens 
of Springfield predicated their pledges toward the future 
school on the guaranty of Mr. Drury's promise ; friends 
of the movement in St. Louis, Ohio, and New York did 
the same ; and the thousand streams of benevolence which 
have since flowed hither from every point of the compass, 
were made possible by the liberality of this rare man. 

Let us also remember the risk of pain and of mortify- 
ing defeat which he incurred by allowing his name thus to 
be associated with the nascent school, at the time scarcely 
more than a sanguine hope and an advertisement ; over 



12 

whose management he could exercise little control ; whose 
perpetuity would naturally remain for years an unsolved 
and anxious problem ; and whose development into the 
rounded proportions of a well-established college, rich in 
an affluence of endowments and a constellation of learned 
and distinguished instructors, and richer yet in a great 
family of influential and honored alumni, could be to him 
but a dim, and distant, and scarcely real vision. 

Thus to commit himself, his property, his peace of 
mind, his reputation, to the fledgling school, required 
strong courage in Mr. Drury, as well as sublime faith and 
a broad beneficence. 

The College has now many valued friends abroad and 
at home. Not a few intelligent people are proud of it, — 
of its standard of training and scholarship ; of the company 
of young people who have already received intellectual 
stimulus here to go forth to benefit society ; and of the 
honorable reputation which the school has won in this 
Commonwealth. But at several crises during our history 
of ten years, how many of this audience would have cov- 
eted the doubtful ''honor" of giving name to the institu- 
tion. 

With the pressure of want which he had not the re- 
sources to relieve, of debt, of misconception of his per- 
sonal motives, of uncertainty as to the future, which occa- 
sionally has come upon him during the ten years of our 
corporate history, Mr. Drury has more than once said to 
me, "T/izs name on the College is a millstone about my 
neck rather than an occasion of joy, and a title to honor." 

Mr. Drury never removed his residence from Olivet till 
called to mansions on high. He never ceased to take the 



13 

warmest interest in the Christian school in Michigan which 
first won his affection. Yet, naturally, the school which 
bore his name claimed his chief regard and solicitude. 

At the time of our organization, it was expected that 
Mr. Drury would come here and engage actively in the 
work of "winning friends and funds'' for the school, for 
which he had great aptitude. But he found it necessary 
to remain in Michigan, to care for the property which he 
had destined for the College. Then, somewhat of the 
vigor and enthusiasm with which he had pleaded and 
toiled for Olivet College was already abated by the ad- 
vance of years, and the effect of the previous strain. 
Moreover, he doubtless found the name of the new school 
a serious embarrassment to his pleading with wealthy men 
for aid So, while he made frequent visits to Springfield, 
always highly appreciating the courtesies shown him by 
our grateful citizens, and ever bore this school on his 
heart as a mother the latest child of her love, he never 
considered himself a resident here, nor undertook for the 
College any prominent service. 

Of the personal characteristics of Mr. Drury, beyond 
what have already appeared by incident, brief mention 
must suffice. Of Puritan lineage, he was characterized by 
somewhat of Puritan strictness, Puritan sobriety, and tem- 
perance — physically as pure a man as I ever knew; of 
quick and sensitive temperament, yet, by long schooling, 
of remarkable patience and self-control ; deliberate and 
painstaking in reaching a conclusion, but firm as a rock 
when the conclusion was once reached ; of unflinching 
tenacity of purpose in pursuing what he deemed right and 
duty ; of perfect purity of speech everywhere and in all 



14 

companies ; gentle and complaisant in manner and utter- 
ance, but capable on occasion of a scorching severity ; 
keenly sensitive to the approbation of his fellows, yet ca- 
pable, when principle required it, of meeting popular 
odium and even persecution unflinchingly ; full of an ar- 
dent sympathy for his kind, especially for the lowly and 
the unfortunate, and quick to run to the relief of want 
and suffering ; fond of little children, and ministering to 
them, wherever even casually met with, almost as a 
mother to her own offspring ; in his own household a 
model husband and father; in the neighborhood, first of 
all men to be sought after by the suffering and the sorrow- 
ing ; in his business relations prompt, just, exact, his word 
as good as any bond, never surety on any other man's note, 
and never needing another's indorsement on his own ; in- 
dustrious in labor, and economical in the use of the prod- 
ucts of labor, saving, not so much to accumulate, not at 
all to expend on himself, but rather that he might have 
"wherewithal to give to the poor." 

But to his friends and to the casual observer alike, the 
most prominent characteristic of Mr. Drury, the one which 
earliest impressed itself on first acquaintance, and the one 
most permanent when the chance acquaintanceship had 
ripened into years of familiar association and friendship, was 
his piety — his sense of loyalty to God. He carried his reli- 
gion everywhere — into his business, into his relaxation from 
business ; and where he thought his loyalty to the Saviour 
would be unwelcome, he would not himself enter. He had 
a stalwart faith. He believed in God, and in his Son 
Jesus Christ, without a tremor of doubt. As a former pas- 
tor said of him, " His faith in Christ was absolute, and his 



10 

love for Christ a flaming fire." He took the Bible to be 
God's authoritative, complete, and final revelation to man. 
"To the law and to the testimony" was for him,- an end to 
all personal incertitude as to duty and belief. 

He had a most vivid sense of the reality and supremacy 
of the unseen world. He " endured, as seeing Him who is 
invisible." The plans of the present were formed and en- 
tered on, the requisite labor done, and the resulting bur- 
dens borne, not so much because of expectation of speedy 
personal advantage, as with a view to their effect on the 
progressive triumph and glory of the kingdom of God 
among men. 

He believed that all men have sinned, and, until re- 
newed by the grace of God in Christ Jesus, are children of 
wrath, menaced with perpetual banishment from the pres- 
ence of God. This belief, coupled with an ardent love for 
mankind, fired his heart with apostolic zeal for the salva- 
tion of those who are out of Christ. In his eagerness to 
seek and to save the lost, no obstacle of personal interest, 
convenience, expense, time, labor, was allowed to have 
place. He wOuld drop important business matters and 
hurry to a revival meeting, where he might invite men to 
"come to the Saviour." With tender solicitude he per- 
suaded men to become reconciled to God, while sitting at 
their family firesides, while transacting business across the 
counter of his own store, when casually meeting people by 
the wayside, or in the crowded railway car. In a few 
hours' travel with a coach full of passengers, he was pretty 
sure to have had a few words with each on the subject 
which filled all his own mind and heart. And such was 
his tact, such the overmastering love with which Mr. Drury 



i6 

approached men on this important subject, that he rarely 
gave offense. On the contrary, hundreds and thousands 
now thank him for his faithful admonitions. To us who 
were gathered at his burial came this message from the 
sick-bed of a man formerly notorious for his wickedness, 
but who had been won to Christ and virtue by Mr. Drury's 
persuasions : tl Brother Drury's faithfulness salved me ! " 
Numbers of men of every walk in life, former students, 
business men, railway conductors, and brakemen, have 
lately told me of their great pleasure in recollecting "the 
talks they have had with that good man" on the subject 
of personal religion. 

Mr. Drury was a man of prayer, carrying with him con- 
stantly, as a heavenly fragrance, the spirit of filial com- 
munion with the Father in heaven. He was instant in 
prayer, in whatever circumstances, or company, or place, 
not forgetting the soul's daily cry for daily bread. He 
believedin the power of prayer, assured that exigencies in 
his own life, in the lives of his friends, and in the history 
of each of the twin schools which so largely owe their 
being to him, were shaped by the Divine hand in accord- 
ance with his prayer of faith. Others, also, who observed 
the man of God at certain crises, and heard his strong sup- 
plications, and then noted the remarkable turn in related 
events afterward, were impressed with a similar convic- 
tion. I have heard scoffing enemies of God say "they 
were afraid of Mr. Drury's prayers." Prominent friends 
of Olivet College have said that they had considered his 
"prayer of faith" a chief factor in the upbuilding of that 
school of learning. And not a small measure of my own 
confidence in the perpetuity and growth of this school, and 



i7 

in its enlarged and ever enlarging power for good as the 
years of its history shall pass away, is grounded in the 
efficiency of the prayers of this man of God. 

Mr. Drury was a very strong Christian, not only in 
overcoming the evil in himself, but in drawing others to 
the same Christian living and hope. By exhortation in 
public assemblies, and by private conversation on personal 
religion, he would move men toward the higher life as able 
and eloquent preachers of the gospel might in vain aspire 
to do. 

He was a man of great and ceaseless activity in his 
Father's business. Regularly attendant at public worship 
on Sundays ; always at the church prayer-meeting; often 
closing his place of business in mid-afternoon, and taking 
with him to the place of prayer his employes ; for more 
than thirty years a devoted and most efficient superintend- 
ent of Sunday-schools ; always among the foremost in all 
church work and church benevolences, — he was naturally 
a "pillar'' in each of the several churches to which he at 
different times belonged. 

Mr. Drury's natural love for men quickened by his in- 
tense love for his Saviour, made him one of the kindest 
of men. All the poor and lowly looked to him as their 
friend. The troubled and afflicted naturally sought him 
for counsel and sympathy. Sooner, even, than the beloved 
pastor, would Deacon Drury and his wife be summoned to 
the bedside of the sick. Their gentle hands must smooth 
the pillow of the dying ; their loving care must suitably 
dispose the stiffened limbs of the dead, and arrange the 
final obsequies. It was a common saying in Olivet that 
no funeral was quite complete unless Mr. Drury was pres- 



i8 

ent with his sympathetic face and voice to supervise. He 
was the unfailing friend of youn^ students. Often coming 
to Olivet poor, friendless, awkward, bashful, he used at 
once to seek them out, encourage them with friendly coun- 
sel, perhaps take them into his own hospitable home, or, 
if needful, extend pecuniary aid. Not a few gentlemen, 
now honored among the most useful members of society, 
attribute their perseverance in a course of liberal education 
to the encouragement given them at a critical moment by 
this friend of the young. His beautiful and bountiful home 
was always open to welcome the students and friends of 
the College. During a great part of the early years of his 
residence in Olivet he had students boarding in his family. 
These were more often the sons or daughters of parents 
whom he wished particularly to interest in the College, or 
such as might not, with prudence, be assigned to the pub- 
lic halls for residence. Prominent strangers visiting the 
place were invited to his house, where they received such 
Christian hospitality as caused them ever after to remem- 
ber their visit to Olivet with grateful pleasure. His house 
was the village hotel for the College. By his gracious hos- 
pitality he won lasting friendship and support for the young 
College, and at a period in the development of the school 
when such friendship was more valuable than gifts of gold. 
The direct gifts of Mr. Drury to Olivet College must 
amount to a large aggregate. But his indirect bounty, in 
aid to students and the necessary cost of an unstinted hos- 
pitality, was much greater ; yet all these gifts of money 
are insignificant in value compared with the service ren- 
dered by himself and his wife to the school in this unvary- 
ing and abounding kindness to students and patrons. Such 



19 * 

was the prominent identification of Mr. Drury with the 
College, that he was sometimes addressed by strangers as 
" Professor Drury." With a modest blush he would at 
once rejoin, "I am no professor in Olivet College — only a 
hewer of wood and drawer of water for it." There was no 
needful service which he would not gladly render for this 
school of Christian learning. He rejoiced to be a " servant 
of servants " in the work of the Lord. 

All through his life Mr. Drury was very prominently 
identified with the interests of the Congregational denom- 
ination in the State of Michigan. He was constant in at- 
tendance on all district and State meetings. " Brother 
Drury," as all called him, was the standard delegate from 
the Olivet Church to all these larger ecclesiastical assem- 
blies during the time I lived in Michigan. And during 
these years (i 859-1 872), if there was another Congrega- 
tional layman in the State more useful, or more valued in 
all these religious convocations, I did not know him. In 
the earlier years of his residence in Olivet he often accom- 
panied the eminent evangelist, Rev. John T. Avery, in his 
successful labors in various portions of Michigan. Mr. 
Avery always very highly valued this co-operation. The 
most diligent of men in his Master's business, his type of 
piety, though fervent and aggressive, was by no means 
hard-featured or intolerant. He was too childlike in spirit 
to be intolerant. He had too big and warm a heart for him 
to be a bigot. All good causes, having for their end the 
uplifting of society, found ready welcome to his heart and 
his purse. Though duly loyal to his own denomination, 
he entered with hearty sympathy into co-operation with all 
men, of whatever distinctive name, who earnestly sought 
the advancement of the kingdom of God in the earth. 



20 

He was one of the most thoroughly practical Chris- 
tians that I ever knew, in this sense — that his Christian 
faith entered into, and became the propelling and guiding 
force of, every part of his daily life. In him faith de- 
scended through the intellect to the heart, whence, as the 
currents of the natural life-blood, it permeated and ener- 
gized his whole being. It was easy for him to commend 
Christ to others, because the Saviour was already formed 
in his own heart the hope of glory. He was the Lord's, 
not so much by formal surrender and profession, as out of 
a heart overflowing with love, the consecration reaching 
from center to circumference of all his possessions and 
belongings — property, abilities, time, comfort, reputation, 
family, all for Christ ! In the thoroughness and extent of 
this personal consecration to Christ, I think Mr. Drury 
surpassed any other person whom I ever intimately knew. 

Passing now a probably final earthly review of the life 
of our friend and brother, it is fitting in us briefly to count 
up, as best we may, its sum. 

What, beyond an ordinary human life, has the earthly 
career of Samuel F. Drury achieved ? What lasting me- 
morial of a life lived "here in the body" does he leave 
behind ? 

He leaves no opulent estate in lands and stocks, as do 
many, to his heirs, — alas! inheritance of his blood and 
name had already perished, — though doubtless he might 
have amassed large wealth, since he had in eminent degree 
the prime faculty of accumulating, namely, the habit of eco- 
nomical saving. But he never aimed at wealth. His thrifty 
savings were altogether that he might have the means for 



21 

giving. Sometimes his friends thought his indifference to 
wealth-getting was excessive, and that he should do less 
for "holy charity's sake," and more to render the even- 
ing of his own life comfortable in an abundance of this 
world's goods. 

Few know the extent to which Mr. and Mrs. Drury 
carried personal economy and self-denial, in respect to ma- 
terial advantages, that their Christian benefactions might 
be the larger. A plain statement of the facts pertaining 
to this matter known to myself, would probably seem in- 
credible to many here present. They provided for de- 
pendent relatives, gave to the poor, and contributed to be- 
nevolent causes, with the large generosity of the rich ; 
while in the outlay for personal and household expendi- 
tures they were as moderate as the family of a prosperous 
artisan. Yet were they far from living meanly. On the 
contrary, their home was always a model of comfort and 
good taste, united with moderation. No ; Mr. Drury 
leaves little in the way of material wealth as a memorial 
of a laborious and successful life. 

Few men have had more numerous or stronger friend- 
ships ; few are in death more fortunate in leaving em- 
balmed in human hearts such fragrant and precious mem- 
ory. "Good deeds," 'tis said, "will never die." What 
man of your personal acquaintance, still living or already 
" passed over to the majority," can claim a rarer collection of 
these immortal testimonials to human worth than could he ? 

Few Christian laymen, few ministers, even, have been 
equally successful in "turning many to righteousness' 
How many seals to his untitled ministry for souls in 
Otsego, Kalamazoo, and other villages of Michigan ! How 






22 

many casually met by the wayside, at hotels, during or- 
dinary business engagements, were persuaded by Mr. 
Drury's tender earnestness to become reconciled to God! 
What a noble army of young men, students in Olivet Col- 
lege, during the twenty-five years of Mr. Drury's power 
in Olivet, recruited by him ! In this respect his career 
has been strikingly successful and beneficent, not un- 
worthy to be compared with the life of Harlan Page. 

But the characteristic, the most lasting, the chief earthly 
memorial of this consecrated life, we shall find in his great 
service to Christian education in Michigan and in Mis- 
souri. 

If I believe that God now, as of yore, calls particular 
men to render particular services to mankind, I must be- 
lieve that this Samuel was early called to a great office in 
laying the foundations of Christian learning, — specially 
fitted for this work by divine grace in the heart, trained 
for his appointed mission by the discipline of suffering, 
and mightily inspired to undertake and endure by a sub- 
lime faith in the Invisible. 

Other noble lives spent themselves with his in this 
service in Michigan. I would not forget one name or one 
deed of sacrifice for Christ in connection with the found- 
ing of Olivet College. Some were martyrs in this labor 
and sacrifice — heroes all ! 

But who of all wrought with equal labor, was exhausted 
with such ceaseless watchings, or poured out on the work 
such consuming love ? Some have contributed more 
money ; others may have served the school longer ; but 
none have given it such unquenchable zeal, such patient 
energy, such unrequited sacrifice. 



23 

While, then, Olivet College gratefully honors the mem- 
ory of " Father Shipherd " as her founder, and will always 
head her long roll of benefactors with his name, who from 
all this goodly company so clearly deserves the second 
place in honor as the subject of this eulogy? Of whose 
career is this school, with its honorable past, and the pos- 
sibilities of a long, shining future, more fittingly a memo- 
rial than of Samuel F. Drury ? 

The College, the completion of whose first decade of 
useful activity we this week celebrate, is the second and 
chief enduring monument to this beneficent life. 

No friend will claim for Mr. Drury the original concep- 
tion of a Christian school here in Southwest Missiouri. 
That honor belongs of right to three home missionaries, 
and the little cluster of churches to which they ministered. 
They saw the great intellectual destitution, and the great 
opportunity. But Mr. Drury appeared here, as did John 
Harvard at Boston in 1638, with his offering of substan- 
tial aid at the opportune moment to crystallize into fact 
their devout dream and prayer. 

Not unworthily, then, his name has consecrated the 
infant College, — a just recognition of a life devoted to the 
interests of Christian education, as well as a grateful re- 
turn by us for great and valued service here. With the 
highest propriety we call him Our Founder. 

Here, then, on soil dedicated by Mr. Drury in prayer 
to the service of Christ and his Church before the spade 
had removed the sod for the foundations of the first College- 
building, is rising an eternal monument to his memory. 
Not so much the spacious grounds with their buildings, li- 
brary, and the various paraphernalia for instruction, that 



24 

now are ; not so much the numerous erections of taste and 
higher convenience that shall hereafter gradually supple- 
ment or supplant these pioneer structures, as the College 
slowly develops in the revolving years toward its high 
ideal ; but rather the intellectual and spiritual life here 
quickened, — the successive generations of noble youths 
and maidens here trained "for Christ and humanity," and 
sent into all the regions round on missions of light and life, 
throughout all coming time. 



SKETCH OF MR. DRURY'S LIFE. 



Samuel Fletcher Drury was born at Spencer, Mass., 
June 7, 1816. His father and grandfather were for 
many years prominent and highly esteemed physicians of 
that town. His maternal grandfather was General Samuel 
Fletcher, of Townsend, Vt., of Revolutionary fame. His 
mother was a woman of unusually earnest religious char- 
acter, who early trained her son in religious doctrines and 
duties. 

At the age of fourteen Samuel went to reside in the 
family of a relative at Millbury, Mass., where he experi- 
enced his first particular religious awakening. In 1834, 
while living in Worcester, he made public profession of 
Christ by uniting with the First Baptist Church of that 
city. 

In 1837 ne l e ft Worcester, and found employment as 
clerk in a dry-goods store in Boston. Here he promptly 
connected himself with the Federal Street Baptist Church, 
in whose vigorous Sunday-school he had his first experi- 
ence as a teacher of the Word of God. He was also very 
active in a mission Sunday-school, in the outskirts of the 
city, sustained by the same church. 

In 1838 the " Western fever" seized Mr. Drury, as it 
did, and still does, so many of the enterprising young men 



26 

of New England. Michigan was then the " Far West ; " so 
he removed from Boston and fixed his residence in the then 
pioneer village of Otsego, Allegan County, Mich., near the 
shore of the lake. Like most other new settlements in the 
West, the people of Otsego were at that time of a very 
miscellaneous sort, gathered from all quarters, of various 
nationalities, of varying degrees of intelligence and moral- 
ity. Of orderly society there was as yet very little ; of 
permanent institutions, nothing. There was no church, 
no Sunday-school, no house of worship, no established 
religious service of any kind. 

True to a marked characteristic of his life, on arriving 
here this young Christian at once sought for other be- 
lievers, whose sympathy he might enjoy, and whom 
he might help in the Master's service. He found, 
in the village, one young man of like feelings and 
purposes, and they together proceeded to give notice of 
religious services to be held on the next day (Sunday), 
when a Sunday-school would also be organized. The 
meeting was held. A goodly number of children and 
adults were present to be organized into a Sunday-school, 
of which Mr. Drury was chosen superintendent. This was 
prompt and efficient zeal for a young man of twenty-two 
years, in a strange community, one thousand miles from 
any earthly friend. Not long afterward a Home Mission- 
ary Congregational Church was organized in Otsego, and 
with this Mr. Drury united, there being no Baptist church 
in the place. 

Here he established himself in business, organizing and 
managing a country store for the sale of general merchan- 
dise. Closely attentive to his business, energetic, syste- 



27 

matic, economical, conciliatory and persuasive of manner, 
he rapidly won his way, and prospered. 

During this period he made the acquaintance of his 
future wife, Miss Angeline M. House, recently arrived 
from Vermont. They were married at Otsego on the 29th 
day of December, 1839. Mrs. Drury survives her husband. 

While resident at Otsego there was born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Drury their only son and child, Albert Fletcher, Feb- 
ruary 15, 1 841. Albert died at Olivet, Michigan, Novem- 
ber 5, 1863, — a young man of rare excellence of character 
and of much promise, whose untimely death was univer- 
sally lamented in the community where he had lived. 

About the year 1842 the system of free public schools, 
which has in later years done so much to dignify and 
adorn Michigan, was in process of organization. With the 
projectors and friends of this enterprise Mr. Drury promptly 
identified himself. His acquaintance with a similar system 
in his native State, and his disposition to second all meas- 
ures tending toward the enlightenment and happiness of 
his fellow-men, naturally fitted him to take an intelligent 
and efficient interest in this movement for popular educa- 
tion. With his pastor and others he organized a " Teach- 
ers' Institute " for Allegan County, probably the first ever 
held in Michigan, out of which, aided by the co-operation 
of Mr. Drury, grew the State Normal School, at Ypsilanti 
— the pioneer normal school of the West. 

While living in Otsego he came to take very advanced 
ground on the subject of temperance — rather, total absti- 
nence. Though but a young man, he was a recognized 
leader in the community in all efforts to dissuade men from 
the use, and to suppress the sale, of ardent spirits. His 



2& 

zeal and prominence in this reform exposed him to much 
obloquy, pecuniary loss, and persecution. This radical 
opposition to the use and sale of intoxicants character- 
ized his whole life. He would not keep or sell liquors in 
any form. He would not employ in his service any one 
who drank ; would not use liquors as a remedy in sickness, 
nor consent that alcoholic wines should be employed in the 
sacrament by the church of which he was an officer. In 
meetings of the church, in the Sunday-school, and when- 
ever he could get an audience of men, especially of young 
men, he unceasingly urged the duty of total abstinence. 
He also believed in the rightfulness and expediency of 
seeking to suppress the destructive rum traffic by the 
strong hand of the law. He lost no opportunity to vote 
"prohibition," or to help execute the law which the pop- 
ular voice had enacted. His opposition to the use of to- 
bacco was scarcely less radical. Though he was propri- 
etor of a country store for most of his life, and the demand 
for "the weed" was always active, and might have been 
to him lucrative, he refused to sell it or to keep it in any 
form, even for the use of farmers in treating medicinally 
their afflicted flocks. 

In the year 1848 the Otsego Church appointed Mr. 
Drury a delegate to the Marshall Association of Congre- 
gational Churches, which was to be held that spring at 
Olivet, Eaton County. 

Olivet was at that time an infant school and colony 
after the order of Oberlin, in Ohio, and founded, in 1844, 
by a company of earnest Christian men and women from 
Oberlin, organized and led by Rev. John J. Shipherd, the 
heroic founder of the Oberlin colony and College. Mr. 



2Q 

Shipherd had died during the first few months of his work 
in Olivet, and found his last resting-place, at the early age 
of forty-two, in the soil on which he planted his second 
school of Christian learning. 

At the time referred to the Olivet School was in great 
need of friends and funds. Fire had not long before 
burned down its single school-edifice. The colonists had 
rallied after the conflagration, and with their own hands cut- 
ting and shaping the timbers, had re-erected the building 
so far as to inclose it. Here their resources utterly failed 
them. They could go.no further without outside help. 

The Marshall Association convened in this half-com- 
pleted structure. At the close of the session of the As- 
sociation, the condition and wants of the school were de- 
scribed by one of the instructors. The story of faith, and 
prayer, and self-denial greatly moved Mr. Drury. He 
asked permission to speak. He urged upon the Associa- 
tion the duty of aiding the struggling school, and proposed 
an immediate effort, then and there, to raise the money 
needed. Under his lead and example the whole sum nec- 
essary to complete the house was speedily secured. 

Before leaving Olivet for his home in Otsego, Mr. 
Drury was urged by the colonists to become one of them, 
and give his zeal, and faith, and energy to the work of 
establishing and equipping the institution. This call to 
service for Olivet weighed long and painfully on his heart. 
On the one hand were his own personal interests, the de- 
mands of an active and prosperous business, and the prom- 
ise of large success; on the other, the urgent and touch- 
ing call of this young school of Christ for help. 

Not having been able to rid himself of the feeling that 



God called him to engage in this work, during the sum- 
mer of 1849 he voluntarily undertook an extended canvass 
for funds for the school, visiting many portions of Michi- 
gan in this quest. And his efforts were successful. So, 
finally yielding to the entreaties of the people of Olivet 
and his own growing conviction of duty, he decided to 
abandon his business and home in Otsego, and take up his 
residence in Olivet. He arrived there September 24, 
1849. 

The greater part of the year I850 he devoted to rais- 
ing funds for the Institution in Michigan. In 1851 he 
made his first visit to New England in the service of the 
school. He obtained timely and liberal aid from many in 
Boston, particularly from members of the Park Street and 
Mt. Vernon Churches. Of the latter church the distin- 
guished Dr. E. N. Kirk was pastor, and gave earnest sym- 
pathy and aid to Mr. Drury. On his return to Michigan 
he brought with him a fine Chickering piano, the gift of 
the liberal maker, and the sweet-toned bell which, in the 
tower of Colonial Hall, has for these many years continued 
to call students and townspeople to their daily tasks and to 
the house of God. This visit to the East also secured to 
the infant College the nucleus of a library and needed 
physical apparatus. 

Mr. Drury continued to be at intervals a " college 
beggar" for many years, visiting the bountiful East again 
and again in this hard service, and also faithfully canvass- 
ing his own State in the interest of the school. 

Mr. Drury was frequently a very efficient helper in re- 
vival meetings held with the churches in various parts of 
Michigan. In such visits he always carried with him, in 



3i 

heart and on lips, the interests of the beloved school of 
Christ. So, from out of the warm atmosphere of a revi- 
val in some Michigan village, where Mr. Drury had la- 
bored from house to house, would speedily come to Olivet 
a delegation of young disciples intent on gaining an edu- 
cation to fit them for the Master's service. Not a few 
such " recruits " for Olivet are now successful preachers 
and teachers of the Word of God. Not infrequently gifts 
of money to the needy school followed such visits from its 
devoted agent. 

Mr. Drury was always remarkably successful as a so- 
licitor for Olivet School and College, especially if we con- 
sider the circumstances of the period. Few men were 
ever so earnest or so persuasive in this difficult but need- 
ful work as he. The spirit of consecration to the service 
of this Christian school and of utter self-abnegation, ex- 
pressed in look, and tone, and manner, was well nigh irre- 
sistible. Hence, some men who did not like to relax 
their grasp on their purses, dreaded the approach of 
"Brother Drury" when on a collecting tour for Olivet, 
declaring that "he was a dangerous man to have round." 

In the year 1859 "Olivet Institute" — as the Olivet 
school had been previously called — became "Olivet Col- 
lege," by virtue of a charter from the State of Michigan, 
under the general statutes provided for such corporations. 

Mr. Drury was very active and prominent in the work 
of obtaining this charter, and in organizing the College 
Faculty under it. Indeed, most of the first teachers who 
united in lifting the curriculum and standard of the school 
from the grade of an academy to the honorable standing 
of a true college were secured, not by the emoluments 



32 



offered by the Board of Trustees, but by the personal in- 
tervention and persistent persuasions of this earnest man. 
He believed in the important mission of Olivet with all 
his soul, and had, in rare degree, the power to cause other 
men to see the future of this school through his own 
dilated vision, however much the facts as to its equipment 
and exchequer might at the time oppose. 

His son, then (1859) a student in Oberlin College, he 
called home to help form "the quintette" — three young 
men and two young ladies — which constituted the first 
Freshman class in Olivet College — a fine nucleus, around 
which successive classes formed until the young College 
was fairly on its feet. This was a sore trial to the feelings 
of the son, though the sacrifice was cheerfully made, be- 
cause he was already entered as a student in a widely- 
known college, with a large class of students to whom he 
was greatly attached. But Mr. Drury rightly reasoned, 
that if he were to encourage the sons of other men to 
seek their education at the fledgling college in Michigan, 
he must first place there his own son. 

During the period 1859 to 1872, Mr. Drury was the 
representative working Trustee of Olivet College. Every- 
where, on all occasions, with marvelous fidelity, he worked 
for, advocated, personated, the College. He gathered stu- 
dents, won new friends, placated enemies, collected re- 
sources. He was the close friend of every instructor, — 
often supplying to the latter the means on which to live, 
denied him too often by the stinted revenues of the Col- 
lege. His counsel very largely shaped the plan of the 
College and moulded its life, and greatly influenced the 
whole administration. That it was always wisest no one, 



33 

least of all himself, would have claimed ; but that his 
strong, personal influence in all the affairs of the College 
was wisely exerted, the steady growth of Olivet in all 
the elements of a successful Christian college abundantly 
testified. 

In 1872, a change in the administration of the College 
occurring, Mr. Drury largely withdrew thenceforth from 
active participation in its management and service, though 
he remained a trustee, and continued to the end of life to 
take a lively interest in the welfare of a school which had 
been enriched with the prayers and the self-denying labors 
of a full score of the best years of his life. To the end, 
Olivet was his "first love.'' 

Early in the spring of 1873 he decided to join his 
friend, Rev. N. J. Morrison, in a second experience at 
college founding. Overtures had previously been made to 
them from California, Colorado, Crete, Neb., and Spring- 
field, Mo., to induce them to select each of the localities 
referred to as the site of the proposed college. To- 
gether they visited Nebraska and Missouri, and finally 
decided that the propositions from the citizens of Spring- 
field, Mo., offered, in the prospect of rapid growth to the 
proposed school and great permanent usefulness, the larg- 
est inducement. In making this decision, Mr. Drury felt 
that he had chosen for the site of an important Christian 
college the best location in the whole country at that time 
unoccupied. 

The preliminary organization of the school occurred on 
the 29th day of March, 1873. The incorporation was com- 
pleted early in August of the same year, the corporation 
taking the name of " Springfield College/' with Mr. Drury 



34 

as a trustee and Mr. Morrison, President. On the 25th 
day of September following, the school opened with thirty- 
nine students and three instructors, in a brick building 
costing over seven thousand dollars, whose foundations 
had been begun less than six weeks previously. On the 
29th day of December of the same year, by unanimous vote 
of the Board of Trustees, the name of the College was 
changed, in honor of its chief benefactor, to u Drury 
College." 

After the burning of his store, in 1867, Mr. Drury 
gradually withdrew from active business affairs. He had 
little inducement to rebuild and continue his business, since 
the hope of a successor had perished in the untimely death 
of his son ; so he occupied himself with settling the accu- 
mulated accounts of his past merchandising, in caring 
for the interests of Olivet College, aiding in revival work 
in various churches, and " lending a hand " to every good 
work within his reach. 

The organization of the College called after his name, 
naturally gave new employment to the last ten years 
of his life — entering with fresh enthusiasm into all the 
planning for its advancement, rejoicing with much joy over 
its unusual successes, and bearing a double solicitude as 
the enterprise, from time to time, passed through the 
usual straits and perils. Retaining his residence in Olivet, 
he made frequent visits to the Southwest, spending 
months at a time in Springfield, and watching the growth 
of the child-college with the anxious love of a father. 

It was during one of these protracted visits that he 
contracted the disease which finally ended his life. At 
the special request of President Morrison, who was obliged 



35 

to be absent in search for funds, Mr. and Mrs. Drury spent 
most of the winter of 1882 in Springfield, arriving in Jan- 
uary, and returning to Michigan in April. He found great 
enjoyment in familiar intercourse with the students of the 
College, encouraging them with wise counsel and needed 
pecuniary aid. He showed much of his old earnestness 
and power in religious meetings, and in private confer- 
ences with individuals. A good deal of religious interest 
prevailed in the College and in some of the churches of the 
city— a source of great comfort to Mr. Drury. From a sud- 
den cold he was seized with a sharp attack of pneumonia, 
and for several weeks was confined to his room, his case at 
times being regarded as critical. Before he was fully re- 
stored, too soon it was thought for safety, he returned to 
Michigan. As the summer came on he seemed to improve, 
and it was hoped that he would in time fully recover, and 
again be himself. But his work was done, and his earthly 
career was nearing its end. He was aware of it, and fully 
"set his house in order." He had time during the suc- 
ceeding months of increasing weakness to review the past. 
He thanked God for the opportunity to suffer and to do 
for his cause, particularly in connection with the two Chris- 
tian schools with which he had been so closely identified. 
Within a few hours of his death he said to his faithful wife, 
who had watched by his side through almost a twelve- 
month of suffering, joyfully said, " Could I live my life over 
again, I would choose the same course of labor and sacri- 
fice for Christian education." He calmly passed away to 
his rest on Monday, the 12th of February, 1883. 

Friday morning following, impressive funeral services 
were performed in the chapel of Olivet College, Rev. H. Q. 



36 



Butterfield, President of the College, conducting, and as- 
sisted by his colleagues, Rev. Dr. H. M. Goodwin and Pro- 
fessors O. Hosford and J. Estabrook ; Rev. C. O. Brown, 
of Kalamazoo ; Hon. Philo Parsons, of Detroit, and Rev. 
N. J. Morrison, D.D., President of Drury College, Mis- 
souri, but formerly President of Olivet College. Hon. J. W. 
Lisenby, of Springfield, Mo., representing the Board of 
Trustees of Drury College, was also present on the 
platform. 

The addresses made by Professors Hosford and Esta- 
brook are given below. That by Dr. Morrison appears, 
substantially, on the earlier pages of this memorial, re- 
peated by request at the following anniversary of Drury Col- 
lege. It is greatly to be regretted that we have no report 
of the touching tributes of Mr. Brown and Mr. Parsons to 
the memory of their dead friend. The former is an hon- 
ored graduate of Olivet College, who regarded Mr. Drury 
with almost the affection due a father. The latter had for 
many years been an intimate personal friend of Mr. Drury, 
a colleague in the Board of Trustees of Olivet College, and 
a munificent contributor to its resources. He gratefully 
portrayed how Mr. Drury's example of faithful Christian 
service and self-sacrifice for mankind had won his heart, 
greatly influenced his own life, and led him to do what he 
had done for Olivet College. 

After the services at the chapel the remains were car- 
ried to the little village cemetery near by, and laid beside 
the grave of his son, but a few yards from the mound which 
marks the resting-place of " Father Shipherd," Olivet's 
heroic founder. 



ADDRESS BY PROF. ORAMEL HOSFORD 



Mr. and Mrs. Drury first came to Olivet to attend a 
meeting of the Marshall Association, — he as a delegate 
from the church at Otsego. 

As our school-term was near its close at that time, the 
arrangement was made to have the closing exercises imme- 
diately after the adjournment of the Association, thus se- 
curing the attendance of the ministers and delegates, that 
they might become acquainted with the work here, and 
learn our purposes and plans. 

At the close of our exercises, Mr. Drury arose and 
wished to express his deep interest in what he had seen 
and heard. He had learned something of the purposes of 
those who had founded this Institution — that it was to be 
a distinctively Christian school. The enterprise, he said, 
met his most hearty approval ; he was ready to give it his 
warmest sympathy ; he could not leave without express- 
ing, thus publicly, his feelings. He had been looking 
over the frame for a three-story school-building, over on 
yonder hill. It had been standing there for a year or 
more, and was already suffering from exposure, and would 
soon go to decay unless protected. The funds were ex- 



38 

hausted — help was needed. He wished to leave some 
substantial token of his appreciation of the work here un- 
dertaken, and he hoped others would join him. 

Others did join him ; and although the sum raised was 
not large (yet much larger than it would seem to be now), 
it was sufficient for immediate use, and a series of labors 
were thus set in motion which resulted in the completion 
of what is now called Colonial Hall. 

That twenty minutes talk was most timely. Wearied 
and depressed as we were, the immediate future did not 
look promising to us. We had no doubt that deliverance 
would come from some quarter, but from whence we could 
not tell. Only those who have been in like circumstances 
can realize how great was the relief which thus came to us. 

The funds raised were greatly prized, but the words of 
sympathy and encouragement were worth far more. We 
were led to feel that Mr. Drury was the man we needed 
to help us, and at our earnest solicitation, after prayerful 
consideration, he came and heartily cast in his lot with us. 

Before this time but little effort had been made to 
raise funds, or to interest friends, except in this immediate 
vicinity. Mr. Drury's experience and business acquaint- 
ance enabled him to visit successfully the cities and large 
towns, not only in this State, but also in New England, 
and obtain funds, and also to interest business men in the 
work, thus lifting the whole enterprise to a higher level. 
His coming marked an epoch in the history of Olivet. 
For years, he was one of the earnest laborers whose efforts 
have resulted in bringing the College to its present 
standing. 

He has finished his work, and gone to his reward. 



39 

Could he return to us, after these few days of new experi- 
ence, do you think he would regret that he devoted this 
life to works so worthy, although wearisome, and to labors 
so exalted, although difficult and trying? We bury the 
body, and dust returns to dust — but he is not dead ; he is 
born into that new life which will never end. 



ADDRESS BY PROF. JOSEPH ESTABROOK. 

{For many years Principal of the State Normal School at Ypsilanti.') 



My first acquaintance with Bro. Drury was in a revival 
of religion in Ypsilanti, in 1858, in connection with a 
series of meetings conducted by Rev. J. T. Avery. He 
came there a stranger, drawn by his love for the revivalist 
and his work. He entered with all his soul into the efforts 
made, though almost an entire stranger to the people. 
Through his earnest prayers, and exhortations, and per- 
sonal labor the work received a new impulse. 

My last acquaintance with him was also in a revival in 
Olivet. During the last few weeks of his decline a series 
of meetings was held in a hall near his home, which he 
attended when it was possible. No one who was present 
will ever forget the last words he ever spoke in a religious 
meeting. It was with much effort that he ascended the 
stairs. He appeared much exhausted when he entered 
the room. When he had recovered, and an opportunity 
was given, he rose and testified as follows : — 

" I do not know how long I shall remain with you, my 
friends and neighbors. You have known me for many 
years. I have seen prosperous days. You have seen me 
in the midst of my active business life. My life has been 



4' 

to me a great joy. You might think that these days of 
physical weakness must bring sorrow and gloom to my 
heart and home. 

" I may never meet you again in this world, but I want 
to bear testimony to-night that no period of my life has 
been so full of sweetness and joy as this. Christ is pre- 
cious, unspeakably precious to me. My prospects for the 
future have never been so glorious. From a full and deep 
experience I recommend this religion to each one of you. 
Oh, don't reject it! Accept it now!" These were his last 
words spoken in public. 

Bro. Drury was widely known as an earnest, conse- 
crated, and successful Christian worker. The following 
traits of his Christian character are worthy of careful con- 
sideration : — 

(i.) He believed in his inmost soul that the Bible, 
from Genesis to Revelation, is the word of God, and given 
by inspiration of the Holy Ghost. That question had been 
settled years ago, and upon it he had no hesitation or mis- 
givings. On this ground was based his intense convic- 
tions of the importance and necessity of the religion of 
Christ. 

(2.) Few men of my acquaintance had such an all- 
absorbing sense of the necessity of regeneration — of the 
reality of heaven and hell — of the truth of the promises, 
and the worth of souls. His prayers, his exhortations, 
his testimony for Christ, all breathed of the intenseness 
of his convictions. 

(3.) Another trait of his Christian character was his 
love for souls. His heart, like that of his Master, yearned 
for the salvation of souls for whom Christ died. This was 



42 

the secret of the persistent and successful efforts in win- 
ning souls to Christ. None but those who knew him inti- 
mately and in his deeper experiences could form a just es- 
timate of what was most Christlike in his character. 

When such a man departs, the world may well mourn. 
Such a man was Bro. Drury, whose departure we mourn 
to-day. 



As bringing out in distinct relief certain prominent 
characteristics of this very useful life, extracts are here- 
with published from letters received by the family after 
Mr. Drury's death. 

From the Rev, John T. Avery, Cleveland, Ohio. 

"The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance " (Ps. cxii., 6). 

My acquaintance with Bro. Samuel F. Drury began in 
December, 1848, in the village of Kalamazoo, Mich. It 
was the commencement of a revival of religion in the First 
Congregational Church of that place. He had left his busi- 
ness and home in Otsego, some ten miles distant, and "come 
a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel " in Kala- 
mazoo. He was speedily earnestly at work in the meetings. 
His winning manners, genial spirit, and clarion voice early 
drew me to him in a friendship and fraternal attachment 
which the lapse of years and joint experiences in thrilling 
revival scenes have only strengthened and confirmed. 

For many weeks he left the care of his mercantile busi- 
ness to others, while he and his noble Christian wife, — a 
most efficient helper, — by house-to-house visitation and 



*1 

43< 

holding daily meetings, as real home missionaries, success- 
fully labored to win souls. 

After two months spent thus in Kalamazoo, during 
which many scores of all classes and every age were added 
unto the Lord, he heard the Macedonian cry from Gales- 
burg, a town nine miles distant, where similar labors and 
similar successes awaited him. 

Thence they were invited to Schoolcraft, a village six- 
teen miles distant, originally settled by infidels, and noted 
for irreligion, where similar labors by Mr. and Mrs. Drury 
were followed by like results. Infidelity was essentially 
crippled in the place, and religious institutions, before 
feeble, became strong and influential. 

In December, 1854, chiefly through Mr. Drury's 
planning and preparation, I was called to lead a series of 
meetings at Olivet, in which, church, college, and com- 
munity so largely shared. There, in the home of his adop- 
tion, he seemed emphatically to obey the apostolic injunc- 
tion, " Bear ye one another's burdens," being identified 
with the interests of every family and soul in the parish 
and the surrounding region. There, if any man since the 
days of the Apostle Paul followed in his illustrious foot- 
steps, "from house to house, to warn every man night and 
day with tears," that man was Samuel F. Drury. 

This meeting at Olivet opened the campaign for 1854-5, 
in which successful meetings were held in Charlotte, Flint, 
and Marshall, Mr. Drury everywhere participating. Dur- 
ing these meetings many incidents worthy of public note 
occurred, one of which I will mention, since it affords a key 
to the secret of his talent and success in "sowing beside 
all waters." 



44 

After the close of the meetings at Flint, on a Sunday 
night, Mr. Drury and myself took passage in the stage- 
coach before day-dawn of the next morning. The back seat 
was already occupied by a gentleman and lady, evidently 
husband and wife. Being myself peculiarly weary, I sought 
a quiet and silent position opposite. Mr. Drury, by my side, 
— full of the new wine of the kingdom of grace, — soon 
broke the spell of silence in a most happy, affable, Christian 
way, and brought forth an encouraging response. It soon 
appeared that the arrow had not missed its mark, though 
sent from a bow drawn at a venture. Before the end of 
our forty miles of stage-ride, there was good evidence that 
in the minds of that intelligent couple the great decision 
had been as intelligently and finally made to choose and 
openly profess Christ, as was made by the Ethiopian 
eunuch, riding in his chariot, under the guidance of 
Philip the evangelist ; for before they left the coach they 
declared their purpose, like Joshua, — "as for me and 
my house, we will serve the Lord," — and promised that 
night to erect a family altar in their own house in Detroit. 

The last of my personal contact and association with 
Brother Drury occurred at Kalamazoo, in 1880, where it 
had begun thirty-two years before. We again engaged in 
joint labors for the religious welfare of the Congregational 
Church of that place, now the mother of a family of other 
churches in the neighborhood. It was a great joy to me 
to note in him great growth and maturity of Christian 
character, — his heart and faith, as simple and child-like as 
a young convert's, united the calmness and strength which 
came from years of discipline in the school of Christ. 

Never did I, as a preacher, from any hearer, friend, or 



4 5 

assistant, receive such help in every way as from him. 
His conscious presence in the audience girded me with 
new strength, courage, and faith, especially when I en- 
joyed "the light of his countenance," reminding me of the 
trite truth, "as iron sharpeneth iron, so man his friend," 
and, "as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of 
man to man.'' 

He also had great spiritual discernment. Often while 
listening to the Word in the public audience, he would 
cast his eye over the congregation, and read from their 
countenances the workings of many minds, while he 
seemed to be praying for the Spirit to accompany the 
Word and send it home. Then at the close of the services, 
like a skillful physician putting his finger on the patient's 
pulse, or the faithful nurse administering the needed pre- 
scription, he would gently approach the wounded hearer, 
engage him in conversation till the audience had passed 
out, and then, perhaps, in a prayer of personal consecra- 
tion ; from which many — oh, how many! — have dated their 
first step toward the cross, and their entrance within "the 
strait gate." I must believe that in the out-gushing of his 
love to the Saviour and to the souls of men, he patterned 
after the type of piety and manner of labor characteristic 
of Brainerd, Alleine, Baxter, Payson, Harlan Page, Net- 
tleton, and Finney. 

Dear, departed Brother Drury, farewell till hereafter ! I 
never expect to have, or look upon here another such helper. 

A former student in Olivet College, an inmate in the family 
of Mr. Drury > now a prosperous business man } writes : — 

When I was at school he always manifested the live- 



4 6 

liest interest in my welfare, and many are the long talks 
we have had about the future, he never failing to do me 
good by his counsel. One occasion I particularly recol- 
lect — shall never forget it to the latest day of my life. It 
was the last day of the year 1863. He called me to his 
desk in the store, and from a few minutes after nine p. m. 
until midnight, he talked to me as no one else ever did 
before or since. The tenor and burden of all he said was 
this : The nobility of living for others. 

Extract from a letter by Rev. yohn M. Barrows, A.M., 
formerly Professor in Olivet College y addressed to Mrs, 
Drury : — 

. . . But I smile through these tears, and exult in the 
joyous hope that cheered him through his life of labor for 
Christ, through his long sickness, and which made his dy- 
ing bed "soft as downy pillows are." From his sickness 
he never recovered. He said it was his last. Notwith- 
standing the encouragements of his friends and beloved 
physician, he was not deluded with a false hope. He was 
ready from the first, and testified to the sustaining grace of 
God, in public and private, to the church and to the world, 
in the prayer-meeting and on the street — "He was never 
so happy!" "God was so near ! " " Jesus was so precious ! " 

From the Rev. M. W. Fairfield, A.M., of Muskegon, Mich- 
igan, First President of Olivet College : — 
I have regarded Mr. Drury as one of the most remark- 
able and valuable men I have ever known. The measure 
of his usefulness will only be known when " the books are 
opened.'' I have no doubt hundreds of souls have been 



47 

brought to Christ through his direct instrumentality. The 
world is richer by his life. The cause of education never 
had a sincerer friend and worker. 

From Rev. W. M. B arrows y D. D., Secretary of the Ameri- 
can Home Missionary Society, New York : — 

My earliest and most pleasant recollections of Olivet 
are in connection with you and Mr. Drury. When I first 
went there, an awkward, bashful, country boy, you were 
kind enough to notice me, and speak kindly to me, and 
encourage me in my studies. Mr. Drury brought me out 
in the Sunday-school. Before I was sixteen he gave me a 
class of boys to teach. It was there I got my first expe- 
rience in Christian work, and had awakened the desire to 
become a minister of the gospel. And ever since he has 
been the same kind, generous, helpful friend. 

How we shall miss him ! Olivet will not be Olivet 
without our brother Drury. 

But what a precious memory he leaves behind him ! How 
many thousands are ready to rise up and call him blessed ! 

Olivet College and Drury College will always be mon- 
uments to his memory. And who could wish nobler ones? 

From Rev. John Henry Barrows, D.D., Pastor of the Second 
Presbyterian Churchy Chicago : — 

A good man, one who honored Christ, one who had a 
great influence on my early Christian life, one from whom 
I received every kindness, and never anything but kind- 
ness, has been called home. Few men that I knew 
seemed so thoroughly prepared to go. I bless God for all 
the good which he has accomplished. 



4 8 

Rev. J 'antes H. Harwood, D.D., prominently identified 
with the early days of Drury College, writes thus : — 

In all my acquaintance with Christian men, I know of 
no one to whom I felt more drawn than to Mr. Drury. 
He was so filled with the Spirit. He kept his heart so 
warm for every opportunity for Christian work. He was 
so faithful and loving in speaking a word everywhere to 
win souls to Christ, or to urge Christians to a faithful ser- 
vice. He was so kind and gentlemanly in all his inter- 
course with men. He seemed like a citizen of another 
country, sojourning a little while in this, and seeking to do 
all the good he could do while staying here. No words 
are too strong to express my delight in his memory, and 
my honor for his character and life. 

Extract from a letter from Prof. Sumner, of Worcester, 
Mass. : — 

... It was the influence of that Godly man (Mr. 
Drury) that led me up to God, and I want to become like 
him : for his Christian zeal was constant, without wavering, 
always laboring, ever cross-bearing. 






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